I'm sure you're right to be proud of being Scottish, and a lovely country it is too.  But you forgot to mention a few other things Scotland has - free university education, free care for the elderly - and they wanted free school meals too, all paid for by the taxpayers of the United Kingdom, the majority of whom are English, and don't have these benefits.  Scottish MPs at Westminster can vote on matters affecting only England, while English MPs have no say in what the (very narrowly) elected majority do in the Scottish Parliament.  Be careful before you wish for independence.  Would you want your own broadcasting service too, or would you be happy to stay with the BBC? - which is disproportionately staffed by Scots, anyway.  Don't get me wrong, I am NOT anti-Scottish, just interested in a balanced argument.   As to your question about separateness, that has been answered before, and Scotland is no more a separate country than Hawaii (part of USA) or the Canary Islands (part of Spain), according to the definition that is used here.